Put Mao Tse-tung’s Thought in the Forefront,
Cadres Give the Lead at Every Level

[This article is reprinted from Peking Review, Vol. 9, #25, June 17,
1966, pp. 5-6. Thanks are due to the WWW.WENGEWANG.ORG
web site for some of the work done for this posting.]

Following is a translation of an editorial published by
“Hongqi” (Red Flag), theoretical journal of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist
Party, in its No. 8 issue, 1966. —Ed.

THE experience of China’s revolutionary struggles in the past
decades may be summarized in thousands of points, but in the final analysis, they boil down to
one single point: Chairman Mao’s works are the supreme guide for work in all fields; Mao
Tse-tung’s thought is the fundamental guarantee of victory for all work. When Mao Tse-tung’s
thought is placed in the forefront, our cause advances irresistibly and triumphantly. This was
the case during the period of the new-democratic revolution; it is also the case during the
period of the socialist revolution. This is true of the socialist revolution on the economic
and political fronts; it is also true of the socialist revolution on the ideological and cultural
fronts.

A great movement for the creative study and application of
Chairman Mao’s works has unfolded in the past few years among the masses of the workers,
peasants, soldiers and revolutionary cadres. Mao Tse-tung’s thought has penetrated deeper and
deeper into the hearts and minds of the people and is being mastered by more and more people.
For this reason, the socialist revolution has developed in greater scope and depth and socialist
construction has advanced in ever bigger strides, with one miracle after another being created
in every field of work.

Comrade Lin Piao has issued the call: “Study Chairman Mao’s
works, follow his teachings, act in accordance with his instructions and be a good soldier of
Chairman Mao,” and he has initiated a movement in the People’s Liberation Army for the creative
study and application of Chairman Mao’s works. This is a great, new development. Comrade Lin
Piao’s instruction — “Study Chairman Mao’s works with certain problems in mind, study and apply
them in a creative way, combine study with application, and study first what is needed most so
as to gain prompt results” — has become the guide for the whole army in the study of Chairman
Mao’s works and it has yielded incalculable results. Nurtured by Mao Tse-tung’s thought, large
numbers of heroic people such as Lei Feng, Wang Chieh, Ouyang Hai, Mai Hsien-teh and Sun Lo-yi
have appeared in the Liberation Army. They are examples for the whole people to emulate. The
great success made by the Liberation Army in creatively studying and applying Chairman Mao’s
works has given a tremendous impetus to our revolutionary cause as a whole. Energetic emulation
of the Liberation Army has become a universal call to action for all the people and all
endeavours. In this emulation, the fundamental point is to learn from the Liberation Army how
they persistently place Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront in all work and to learn from
Comrade Lin Piao’s extremely important instructions on the creative study and application of
Chairman Mao’s works.

TACHING Oilfield set a shining example and blazed a new trail
for socialist industrialization and the revolutionization of China’s enterprises at a time when
the country was in temporary economic difficulties and confronted by very hard conditions,
materially and technically. What the people of Taching relied on was Mao Tse-tung’s thought.
They said: “The rise of our enterprise has been made possible by relying on Chairman Mao’s two
theses on philosophy: (On Practice and On Contradiction).” The renowned men and
women of Taching have armed themselves with Mao Tse-tung’s thought. As the whole nation is
emulating Taching, a large number of Taching-style enterprises has emerged, whose most salient
characteristic is that they have placed Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront. The workers
express it in these words: “When men follow what Chairman Mao says, machines will do what men
tell them.”

The Tachai Production Brigade set a magnificent example in
China in the building of socialist agriculture; it has blazed a brilliant trail by creating
high-yielding farmland and achieving one bumper harvest after another on barren mountains and
poor land, without making any request for state help either in money or in material. What they
have relied on is Mao Tse-tung’s thought. The renowned men and women of Tachai have armed
themselves with Mao Tse-tung’s thought. As the whole nation emulates Tachai, a large number of
advanced, Tachai-style agricultural units has emerged, whose most salient characteristic is
that they have placed Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront. The peasants express it in
these words: “Mao Tse-tung’s thought is the best revolutionary weapon: Armed with this weapon
you can fight the mountains and they will change; when you aim it at the land, you can gather
bigger crops; when you use it to battle against the water, you can make the water irrigate the
land; when you use it in afforestation, the forests will prosper, and when you use it to fight
the devious trends and evil blasts of the wind, you can stand your ground and see clearly
which way to go.”

The socialist education movement in China’s vast countryside
and in the cities, launched under the guidance of Mao Tse-tung’s thought, is a struggle
between the proletarian and bourgeois classes, between the two roads: socialism and capitalism;
it is a great socialist revolutionary movement. The basic experience derived from it is also
that Mao Tse-tung’s thought must be placed in the forefront. Wherever Mao Tse-tung’s writings
are studied and applied well and penetrate into the hearts and minds of the people, there the
movement is deep-rooted and thoroughgoing, the ideological outlook of the people undergoes
revolutionary and radical change and a new situation appears in production.

Similarly in the great proletarian cultural revolution, we
must ensure that Mao Tse-tung’s thought is placed in the forefront. How are we to see through
monsters? How are we to see through representatives of the bourgeoisie who have wormed their
way into the Party? We must rely on Mao Tse-tung’s thought and we must rely on it, too, to
sweep away all monsters and thoroughly defeat those representatives of the bourgeoisie who
have wormed their way into the Party.

THE watershed dividing Marxism-Leninism from revisionism
and revolution from counter-revolution lies between the alternatives of whether one supports
or opposes the placing of Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront, whether one supports
putting Mao Tse-tung’s thought in command, supports putting “politics in command,” or one
advocates money-making in command and the placing of professional work in command.

The creative study and application of Chairman Mao’s works
and the placing of Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront persistently in all work must rely
on strong leadership by the Party committees at all levels, and the cadres giving the lead at
all levels. This is a most important guarantee.

Some cadres busy themselves every day with meetings, giving
instructions, telephoning and other daily tasks but do not study Chairman Mao’s works well.
We must know that we may do a thousand or ten thousand jobs, but if we forget to creatively
study and apply Chairman Mao’s works, then we forget politics, the class struggle and the
dictatorship of the proletariat and become blockheads. This is very dangerous. If we depart
from Mao Tse-tung’s thought, we will not be able to do anything well and will lose our heads
in the storm of the class struggle, not knowing which way to go. If we depart from Mao
Tse-tung’s thought, we will be corrupted by bourgeois ideology, become its captives and
become revisionists. All Party cadres must thoroughly understand this and must regard
creative study and application of Chairman Mao’s works as a task of prime importance.

The masses of workers, peasants and soldiers have achieved
very good results in creatively studying and applying Chairman Mao’s works. The phenomenon
in some places where cadres have not studied as well as the masses, and leading cadres have
not studied as well as the ordinary cadres, must be speedily changed. Cadres must give the
lead in studying and applying. In studying Chairman Mao’s works, cadres must also learn from
the workers, peasants and soldiers. Only by doing so can they talk about leading. Before they
can become revolutionary leaders, cadres must first give the lead in the creative study and
application of Chairman Mao’s works.

OUTSTANDING examples of cadres giving the lead in the
study of Chairman Mao’s works are to be found everywhere. Like the worker, peasant and
soldier masses, they creatively study and apply Chairman Mao’s works and combine this study
with application. They study in the process of class struggle, the struggle for production,
and scientific experiment. They give the lead in study, work, physical labour and ideological
remoulding. They join the masses in their work, physical labour, study and ideological
revolutionization. This is why they have a high proletarian class consciousness, do their
work well and are really able to lead the masses well. They all place Mao Tse-tung’s thought
in the forefront in their work, place it in command of everything, and use it to push
everything forward. The Party committees at all levels should take care to sum up and
popularize their experience.

If cadres and the masses study Chairman Mao’s works
conscientiously, follow Chairman Mao’s teachings, and act in accordance with Chairman Mao’s
instructions, their ideological outlook will be transformed, the relations between cadres
and the masses will change, the way they work will change and the situation in production
will change.

With the cadres giving the lead at all levels, the ranks
of activists in studying Chairman Mao’s works will grow steadily and their level will
gradually rise. Thus a still broader and deeper mass movement will be formed for creatively
studying and applying Chairman Mao’s works, so that Mao Tse-tung’s thought takes deep root
in the minds of the masses and is really placed in the forefront in all work. This is the
fundamental guarantee for carrying the socialist revolution through to the end,
consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat and adhering to the correct orientation
for socialist construction.

It is the conclusion and the call of the Party to place
Mao Tse-tung’s thought in the forefront, and for cadres to give the lead at all levels.